Well if you can have "golden ears" might as well have golden drivers! That set up looks good enough to me, the Emotiva is supposed to work very well with hungry orthos. And I rate Audio gd very highly too :)

Guess so :D And thanks, I needed to hear that from someone who has Audio GD too :D I also think they are very good.

It is a leap from my current rig PC --- NFB 3.32 --- NFB 16 --- PRO 900 (In all honesty, the NFB 3.32 didnt help much the Pro 900... The mids are still recessed and the highs are still harsh :P Only the bass is slightly better, but they are mid-fi obviously :))

I've read that they have harder, peakier treble than the he500 and less bass slam and presence than lcd2... so that would be a no

and come in preproman.. ;

Ha ha ha,

No way is the treble peakier that the HE-500s. Although some graphs may say so. I find if you have a good enough amp and a good source those peaks are not there at all. The bass slam is there and better IMO more accurate and tighter IMO. However, where I find it may lose - is in bass extension. Shahrose told me if I get a High end DAC I will hear the HE-6 extend further down than the LCD-2.2. So I went out and got a better DAC. I will be here next week.

No way is the treble peakier that the HE-500s. Although some graphs may say so. I find if you have a good enough amp and a good source those peaks are not there at all. The bass slam is there and better IMO more accurate and tighter IMO. However, where I find it may lose - is in bass extension. Shahrose told me if I get a High end DAC I will hear the HE-6 extend further down than the LCD-2.2. So I went out and got a better DAC. I will be here next week.

To my subjective preferences, HE500 have the absolutely dead perfect amount of treble, and near-perfect treble response curve (somewhat de-emphasis between 12k-15kHz, means you get very little "tizz" and treble sounds smooth, albeit with a little less airiness). There is also a slight de-emphasis in the lower treble that mitigates a lot of the aggressive "shout" that is in cans such as LCD2r2 which have a flatter response around that region. The rest of HE500 FR is silky smooth, as intended.

Also extension both into bass and treble are fantastic; sinewave sweeps indicate that bass does not lose energy significantly until about <22 Hz, and there is a fair bit of treble extension even around 19500 Hz (although that might be extending higher just limited by my hearing).

It would be subjectively perfect for me if there is maybe 3~4 dB more upper (12-15kHz) treble but still a slight valley there. Otherwise it's my end-game frequency response.

To my subjective preferences, HE500 have the absolutely dead perfect amount of treble, and near-perfect treble response curve (somewhat de-emphasis between 12k-15kHz, means you get very little "tizz" and treble sounds smooth, albeit with a little less airiness). There is also a slight de-emphasis in the lower treble that mitigates a lot of the aggressive "shout" that is in cans such as LCD2r2 which have a flatter response around that region. The rest of HE500 FR is silky smooth, as intended.

Also extension both into bass and treble are fantastic; sinewave sweeps indicate that bass does not lose energy significantly until about <22 Hz, and there is a fair bit of treble extension even around 19500 Hz (although that might be extending higher just limited by my hearing).

It would be subjectively perfect for me if there is maybe 3~4 dB more upper (12-15kHz) treble but still a slight valley there. Otherwise it's my end-game frequency response.

Probably HE500 > LCD2r2;HE400, as in the latter two stray from my ideal preference, just in different ways. LCD2 is just as refined as HE500, but a tad too dim in the treble, and too aggressive in the upper mids/lower treble, and too closed-sounding. HE400 is less refined, has too much of a upper mids recess, and too much upper treble. Again, these deviations are all in relative terms from my ideal, not saying they are objectively so.

Probably HE500 > LCD2r2;HE400, as in the latter two stray from my ideal preference, just in different ways. LCD2 is just as refined as HE500, but a tad too dim in the treble, and too aggressive in the upper mids/lower treble, and too closed-sounding. HE400 is less refined, has too much of a upper mids recess, and too much upper treble. Again, these deviations are all in relative terms from my ideal, not saying they are objectively so.

Are you considering the HE-6 in the future? They are the same weight as the HE-500 so if you get used to them, then they should be identical in that.

Also, no matter what everyone says about the treble, you wont know till you hear it, so it might just be fine.

A speaker amp would be nice in that case, but I am sure that the Mini-X as a mini speaker amp for example is relatively cheap and good for them.

Are you considering the HE-6 in the future? They are the same weight as the HE-500 so if you get used to them, then they should be identical in that.

Also, no matter what everyone says about the treble, you wont know till you hear it, so it might just be fine.

A speaker amp would be nice in that case, but I am sure that the Mini-X as a mini speaker amp for example is relatively cheap and good for them.

If you had them in the past, I havent found any info on that.

Thanks, best wishes, Luke

Nah, I've auditioned HE6's and they have a much more detailed, neutral (and slightly more realistic-sounding) treble than HE500s, but in terms of sheer treble quantity it's a bit too much. If the whole broadband HE6 treble range is brought down a couple of dBs then it'd be pretty ideal. I still dig the lack of fatigue/tizz attributed to HE500's treble colouration though.

Also I have zero intention of delving into speaker amp setups for the foreseeable future. Maybe 10 years from now. That's another reason why HE6 is out of the question.

Lastly, I got these HE500s new for an incredibly low price, that's pretty much the only reason why I got them

Nah, I've auditioned HE6's and they have a much more detailed, neutral (and slightly more realistic-sounding) treble than HE500s, but in terms of sheer treble quantity it's a bit too much. If the whole broadband HE6 treble range is brought down a couple of dBs then it'd be pretty ideal. I still dig the lack of fatigue/tizz attributed to HE500's treble colouration though.

Also I have zero intention of delving into speaker amp setups for the foreseeable future. Maybe 10 years from now. That's another reason why HE6 is out of the question.

Lastly, I got these HE500s new for an incredibly low price, that's pretty much the only reason why I got them

It seem now that your glad you got them.

It also seems that we think the exact opposite of the HE-500 and the HE-6. While I have both and able to drive the HE-6 pretty well now. For me the treble is smoother and less bright when compared to the 500s. This is of course with the 500s on a headphone amp and the 6s on a speaker amp.

The scalability of the 6s is no joke. They really do get better with more current. In every way.. IMO..

It also seems that we think the exact opposite of the HE-500 and the HE-6. While I have both and able to drive the HE-6 pretty well now. For me the treble is smoother and less bright when compared to the 500s. This is of course with the 500s on a headphone amp and the 6s on a speaker amp.

The scalability of the 6s is no joke. They really do get better with more current. In every way.. IMO..

I've been meaning to save up for them, and get them maybe a few months~ a year down the line. But opportunities arise and here I am.

Actually I never said HE6 treble is less smooth, I said the opposite, in that it is more neutral (flat FR), while HE500 treble is more coloured (non-flat). It's curious though that they sound less bright? Measurement-wise, from every source, HE6 measures with more overall treble quantity than HE500, by a very significant margin. Unless somehow your setup decreases HE6 treble and/or increases HE500 treble, I'm not sure what you are perceiving.